Leading article: Winging it

How many have you seen? A red admiral? A green hairstreak? Perhaps an Adonis blue? Or a dingy skipper? Our summer might have turned out sporadically damper than was forecast. But it has, nevertheless, been a decent first four months for The Independent's Great British Butterfly Hunt. And now that the butterfly season is at its height we have decided to give readers a recap on the profiles of these gorgeous winged insects in our special magazine supplement.

"Happiness is like a butterfly," said the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, "which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." That might be true for happiness, but if you want to see all of Britain's 58 native butterfly species before the summer is out (and please continue to note details of your successes to send us later) a little more urgency will be required.

We wish all a happy hunt.