Wingspan 27 to 30 mm.  

Good quality photograph required.

Damp and marshy areas where the larval foodplants occur.

There are two generations, with adults on the wing in May and June, then again in August and September.

The caterpillars are brown with paler buff markings, and feed on Marsh Bedstraw (Galium palustre) and possibly also Fen Bedstraw (Galium uliginosum).

Formerly a relatively scarce species, found mainly in the south and south-west of England and south Wales. In recent years there has been a considerable range expansion from the south-west which has seen this moth reported in numbers from Lancashire, Cumbria, Suffolk and several midland counties. In a recent survey to determine the status of all macro moths in Britain this species was classified as Nationally Scarce B.

Rarely recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.