Common in woodland, gardens and parkland throughout the British Isles. Reasonably common and widely distributed across Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight. Wingspan 5-6.5 mm. Though this species tends to be smaller than
S. svenssoni and has more unicolorous forewings and less glossy hindwings than females of
S. ruficapitella, the three species, all of which exclusively mine leaves of Oak, cannot be determined with certainty without dissection of the genitalia (MBGBI Vol 1). Larva mines leaves of Oak, over-wintering as a pupa.