Is this a birch?

I thought it was and I kind of still do but I'm not sure, as I've only grown native silver before. This one self-seeded in my guttering and I assumed it was the same (as it appeared right after the last seeds left mine before it was blown down) but as it grows, it's clearly not the same species. It's about 4ft at the moment. Thoughts?

 

Yes, looks like a 'native' Silver Birch to me. I had a mature (about 30 foot high) Silver Birch self seed some 30 to 40 new trees downwind (before I felled it) and I've been coppicing half of them for pea sticks every other year and left the rest to grow for firewood, felled them earlier this year so they'll now also be producing pea sticks.

 

Agree, Silver Birch.

 

Awesome, thanks

 

Next question: how best to coppice it/keep it small? I let the last one grow tall and lost it. I don't want to lose this one and, it's planted next to a fence so I'm aiming for view-blocking rather than height as such so I want about a 7-8ft height on it.