On the 7th the first warm sunshine for weeks brought sightings of a Small Tortoiseshell at Backsand and a Peacock on the Estate and although improvement in the weather was painfully slow 2 Commas were in the Elms on the 14th. Things picked up with the onset of warmer weather from the end of the third week and the year's first Holly Blue was seen along Worth track on the 23rd. On the 24th, in addition to an obvious emergence of Peacocks (10 on the Estate, 15 on New Downs and 8 on Worth) a pristine Red Admiral was fluttering around catkins in the Whitehouse and a Green-veined White and another Holly Blue were found on New Downs. The remainder of April was a quiet affair, reflecting the fact that vegetation was retarded by about a month, and even at the end of the month the BMS transect had the feel of the start of the season.