It has a rusty orange colour to the wings, upper body, and the tips of the antennae.

Like the other orange grass skippers, the male has a distinctive black stripe made up of scent scales.

Eggs are laid loosely inside grass sheaths of the caterpillars food plants from July to August.

The newly hatched caterpillars eat their own eggshell before entering hibernation individually in a protective cocoon of a grass sheath sealed with silk.

The favoured food plant is Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus), although other recorded food plants include timothy (Phleum pratense), creeping soft grass (Holcus mollis), false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum), meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) and cock's foot (Dactylis glomerata).