Common in damp woodland rides and clearings, scrub, hedgerows and gardens throughout the British Isles. In Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight there have been relatively few recent records of this inhabitant of damp sallow thickets. Wingspan 28-31 mm. The main confusion species is
Dark Bordered Beauty E. vespertaria, which differs chiefly in the distal edge of the subterminal fascia, which is parallel with the dorsum in
E. vespertaria, but which meets the apex in
E. repandaria. Larva feeds on Sallow, Black Poplar, Alder and Hazel, over-wintering as an egg.