Common on waste ground and rough grassland, and by ditches and freshwater margins, throughout much of southern England, Wales and central Scotland. In south Hampshire, cases are common to abundant on yarrow, especially near the coast, but recorded less frequently in the north and on the Isle of Wight. Wingspan 9.5-13 mm. More frequently recorded in the larval stage, when the cases are fairly easy to find where they are present; the imago can be separated from several very similar Coleophora species only by dissection of the genitalia. Larva feeds on flowers and seedheads of Yarrow and Sneezewort, living within a movable case; case length 5-6 mm.