Never really counted them, but the slightly less harsh winters may mean that more larva survive to maturity. Vicious thugs they are too. Funniest thing I have seen this year was a gentleman attempting to photograph one near a pond. Every time he got the d/f in focus, it flew off. Then it settled so he'd start again and so on. round and round the pool. We waited for the cameraman to fall in, but he just got redder and redder in the face and more and more dizzy. Last time we saw him he was sitting on a bench being fanned by his lady wife. The d/f, well it was sat on the back of the seat next to him and it stayed there for long enough for me to get a photo, no trouble.
