Poplar catkins courtesy of Franklin

I picked these up on the Green yesterday while out with Hazel.  A small branch of a local poplar tree had come down in the wind, so I broke off a piece.  And I have to say I'm puzzled.

Looking online at the treeguideuk.co.uk these appear to be male catkins.  Possibly from a Wild Black Poplar or at least something similar.  I had thought the difference in the two pairs of catkins might be because one was male and the other female, but that's wrong because each individual tree is either male or female (the females produce all that white fluff later in the spring apparently).  So I suppose these two pairs are just in different stages of development.  Perhaps some knowledgeable blipper can tell me?

Always fun looking close up at something so intricate.

Many thanks to Cathy1947 for hosting today's TinyTuesday.  And have a happy evening, all  xx

PS: no, I'm not even going to mention the latest international crisis - no words!!