Local in woodland edges and hedgerows in southern England and Wales, widespread, but tending to occur in isolated but sometimes populous colonies; absent from the north Midlands, but reappearing in Yorkshire and Cumbria. Widespread and fairly common in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight. Wingspan 10-12 mm. Since the synonymisation of C. hauderi into the present species, it is apparent that the adult is bivoltine, with a small first generation in spring, followed by a main emergence from July through September, remaining active into October before overwintering into the next year (Nota Lep. (2011), J.R.Langmaid).
Imagos are taken at light, but even more so as larval mines in the leaves of Field Maple, subsequently living within a leaf-fold.