UKC

This was out everywhere today in the woods. Can anyone confirm identification?

Looks like a willow.  One of the more vigorously growing ones.  Not much of an answer!

Yes, definitely a Willow as Wintertree suggested. Looks like a goat Willow, they are very common and should be flowering around now.  

Thanks - I didn't think the tree looked like a willow – so I am now educated.

Looks like some kind of willow.

The Woodland Trust has a useful online guide, also available as an app.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/tree-id-app/

Excellent app. Male catkins of the goat willow without doubt. 

The plantNet app I have on my phone is usually pretty much spot on for flowers and trees. It thinks your photo is of an Eared Willow. See screenshot.

Grey willow, female catkin. I knew generally nowt about this stuff but now on a steep learning curve. Not as easy as I thought. 
 

Ed: or female goat willow. Think I’ll stick to bird ID !!

Goat, Grey or Eared?  Hopefully the OP can update the thread with some leaf pictures in a few weeks when they come out, to settle it

One of life’s little mysteries that I’ve not managed to answer with google is why there are so many varieties of Willow, even just in England.

Willows frequently hybridise & identification is often difficult & sometimes isn't really possible. Many years ago I collected a sample of a willow on Ben Alder while doing some botanical survey work for SNH which intrigued me enough to send to the willow specialist at Kew. He wasn't sure but thought it was a cross between 2 species which in turn had crossed with a third (all 3 grew in the corrie).

The sloe - bullace - damson spectrum is interesting (well , to me anyway). I’ve picked almost every size of fruit, which taste sweeter the bigger they get and sourer the smaller they get. And the branches are spinier the smaller they get. 

They're also spinier on younger, smaller damson trees than on older ones it seems.  Fascinating how they know when to grow a branch and when to keep it short and spiky.

Have you ever noticed how holly tree leaves seem to know how high they are?  As you go higher up a tree they often seem to tend to a more rounded, less spiky shape which I assume is energetically favourable for them to grow.

Clever buggers, trees.

I think the damson represents the optimal point on the spectrum.  If blanching them to speed up stone removal for a crumble, the resultant liquid if boiled, reduced down and endowed with a little sugar makes an amazing cordial.

Frozen, boiled Victoria plum pulp form a material almost like Pykrete that is next to impossible to melt in a pan.