Although in Caithness it has only been recorded from a small number of long established broadleaved woodlands, within those woodlands Mottled Beauty is a common summer moth, with the adult flying in July and August. It is distinguished from the similar Willow Beauty by the cross-lines in the wing remaining roughly parallel and do not converge. The larvae feed on a wide range of woody plants and the species over winters a small larva pressed along a stem of the food plant.