Please could you identify this tree for me?

[CruCru]

We have been told to let our insurer know what the tree near our front door is but I can’t get close to the leaves still on the tree because they are too high up. I have had a look online and so far think it is either an elm or a lime tree.

Here is a photo of one of the fallen leaves next to my glasses (for scale).

Looks like a beech?

I think the shape isn’t right for beech. Plus they are quite waxy (beech leaves).

Did it have any seeds?

Looks like a type of birch

Aha! I think it is a birch tree. It gets catkins on and the leaves are about the right shape.

Thank you all!

Download the Picture This app and use the 2 week free trial to identify it? I tried using my app on your photo but it says it's not in enough focus (presumably due to being on a computer screen).

Apps give you somewhere to start but are not always right.

I can't see the bark, but it looks like a birch or maybe a poplar.

A close-up of the trunk would be good.

Is there a reason for the insurance people asking what it is?

I'd go with Lime. The leaves are the right size and the edges are serrated. The trunk and brnaches don't look like birch or poplar. Are the catkins very sticky when they fall and your car gets covered in them?

But a close up of the trunk would help.

Looks like the trunk is greyish and quite gnarly. I'm going with birch.

Limes have heart-shaped leaves with less serration than that.

It is more like one of the hybrid poplars or birches and there's umpteen of those, so seeing the trunk would help.

I don’t know for sure but I expect that there are trees that can cause structural problems for nearby buildings. I’m going with birch.

Trees can have a high, medium or low water demand, so depending on your soil type and the size of the tree, they can cause damage to foundations by causing the soil to shrink or swell, as well as root damage to drains.

How did they even know about the tree being there, in order for them to ask the question, that's what I meant really.

The leaves are the wrong shape - lime is much rounder, and OP says it has catkins, so not lime.

if that dead leaf has come from the tree, it looks like birch, but, as you say, the bark doesn’t look right.

OP - the problem with guessing is if you get it wrong, a future insurance claim could be invalidated, eg if it fell on the house or caused subsidence,they could say “if we had known it was an X, we would not have insured/charged higher premium, and you have misrepresented the case”

This is why I was wondering why they want to know what it is.