A catkin after all...

This is a follow-up to my blip from 10th May. At the time I pondered whether it was a catkin or a larva (or indeed an alien ready to hatch!) Well I went back today to check on it and it's now clearly a catkin.

I should apologise for overestimating its size when I blipped it last time (but of course we men are prone to overestimating the size of things so I have an excuse...!): when I uploaded that blip I thought I'd remembered it being about 4 inches long, but I think I'd confused myself (easily done) by cropping (and therefore enlarging) the photo.

So the catkins are really only about 2 inches long, and the leaves, though being similar in shape to laurel, are quite a bit smaller. Most of the catkins had completely disappeared but 3-4 were left. I photographed one in situ with my hand in the frame to show the size, but in the process the catkin fell off so I brought it home and took a macro photo as well.

I think it must be some kind of willow but I've not been able to find a photo on the web which is really quite the same. Anyone know?

(Note: The photo is best viewed large.)