Abstract We study bottomonium production in association with an $$\eta $$ η meson in $$e^+e^-$$ e+e- annihilations near the $$\varUpsilon (5S)$$ Υ(5S) , at a centre-of-mass energy of $$\sqrt{s}=10.866$$ s=10.866 GeV. The results are based on the 121.4 fb$$^{-1}$$ -1 data sample collected by the Belle experiment at the asymmetric-energy KEKB collider. Only the $$\eta $$ η meson is reconstructed and the missing-mass spectrum of $$\eta $$ η candidates is investigated. We observe the $$e^+e^-\rightarrow \eta \varUpsilon _J(1D)$$ e+e-→ηΥJ(1D) process and find evidence for the $$e^+e^-\rightarrow \eta \varUpsilon (2S)$$ e+e-→ηΥ(2S) process, while no significant signals of $$\varUpsilon (1S)$$ Υ(1S) , $$h_b(1P)$$ hb(1P) , nor $$h_b(2P)$$ hb(2P) are found. Cross sections for the studied processes are reported.