cant focus on a leaf ...

ken

Seems to be a lot of bottlebrush-like flowers? That could point to salix, but a closeup would help a lot

This post was edited by Huggorm on Wed, Apr 16, 14 at 15:27

Appears to be Salix caprea. Almost certainly a self sown seedling tree. You might need to think about whether you want to keep it or not as it is essentially a very large weed in a garden situation.

It is pretty well staked to be a volunteer though. I guess it is some kind of garden variety

Yes, it is staked but that could be because someone didn't know what it was and thought it was an intentional planting. Particularly since the stake doesn't look like a proper garden stake but some sort of broom handle. Or maybe decided to leave a volunteer and grow it up as a standard. The flowers look like female ones and an intentional planting would probably be of a male tree for the silvery catkins. I don't know of any S caprea which are suitable for a small garden here except the weeping Kilmarnock willow and this isn't that. I suppose this could be the graft stock of a Kilmarnock which has grown out although Kilmarnock is a male tree. S caprea just isn't a widely planted garden tree in the UK. But they are very common as inblown seedlings. Perhaps our friend in Stroud will come back with some more clues.

I would dig it up and remove it, even in my garden of two hectares and 12 ponds I'd get rid of it. There are many varieties of willow and almost all are not suitable for a small garden.
My grandmother's maiden name was Stroud. The Birdman of Alcatraz was named Robert Stroud. I've been to Stroud, Oklahoma, and now I just learned there's town in England called Stroud. Made my day.
Mike