Wingspan 9 to 12 mm. A rather uniformly dark grey-brown species (though sometimes a lighter ochreous brown).

Damp bare ground and ditches.

Single brooded, June to August.

Larval foodplants are Pale Persicaria (Persicaria lapathifolia) and possibly other Persicaria.

This scarce and rather local species occurs mainly south of a line from Wiltshire to Bedfordshire with occasional records from elsewhere in England. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as Nationally Scarce A.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland, the Sapcote record of 14th July 2015 is the first VC55 record for this species. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded).