Willow at the back

I've been meaning to trim the willow at the back for a while. The main problem in the entire garden is the hedge*, of course, but we'll have to talk with the neighbour about that and I suppose have disposable money around in case we reach an agreement. Not gonna happen any time soon.

Meanwhile, the berries at the back are also getting lots of shadow from the big crown of this willow. A year ago, I think, I cut off one side branch, but it grows so fast and this summer we basically got no berries.

I got a folding saw recently and today I cut one thick branch off at about a metre from the ground. I want to just coppice it, maybe even harvest it for basket weaving?

I have another two branches to go but I'm doing this by hand (should I say, by shoulder, which is giving me grief) and cutting everything into little pieces is taking me a long time. I don't know if I'll cut the other branches this year.

I harvested some of the pussy willow from what I cut and put it in water jars inside. Unfortunately Loki likes it (of course) and I'm sure at some point he's gonna topple a jar and make a mess.

I also cut off a thickish (5 cm?) branch in the hawthorn at the back. It was a sucker that was growing straight up from the bottom. Not easy, had to cut it in several pieces and untangle it sideways (it was as tall as the tree and branching at the top). I also trimmed a few other very minor branches. Now the tree looks much nicer, I think.

Some signs of life in the new snowdrop patch. Aren't they late?

*Of course it is Leyland cypress, and has been cut badly so it's brown on our side, and it's like 2,5 metres tall at least. Not getting any sun in winter at all.