What's this on my apple tree?

[DirtyDensDog]

Hello, I bought a couple of apple trees last spring and they are doing really well.

Today though, I noticed that one of the trees has the kind of mould on it. Any ideas what this could be please, and how do I treat it?

Thanks.

Mealybug at a guess, are there little insects in the fluffy bits?

Following as mine has had this too!

Not mealy bugs, but very similar wooly aphids which are a pest of apple trees and related trees.

I can't see any bugs.

Here's more of a close up.

That looks like a mealy bug egg mass.

At that scale, easiest to remove by hand.