My twisted Willow is also looking sorry - they are both deciduous and loose leaves in the winter. Autumn is early due to the dry spring we had. It has been dry (yes even with all the rain) over the past month - I suspect that lack of water has affected your Willow.

I suspect that your Kilmarock willow is dead. You can try the finger nail scrape test but I think it is a gonner - sorry. When did you plant or is it in a pot and where are you in the UK? To be honest I think this is simply lack of water.

It may also be wind damage--the trunk may have been cracked. It apparently ran out of water so fast that the leaves couldn't be shed. That can happen in a pot that is forgotten, or if something else breaks the water flow from the roots to the leaves. I.e. critters eating the roots, broken branches, wood-eating insects, etc.

I could be due to being badly grafted. I came across this recently when a neighbours six year old apple tree, doing poorly, snapped off at the graft in a gale. The wood at the graft was quite dead.

That is also a possibility.

I'm not at all convinced its dead - I'm sure that's a healthy bud I can see in the centre top third of the picture, with one or two other less obvious ones on other stems. I'd leave it in situ and see if it grows next Spring - could it have suffered a bit of drought earlier on? How long have you had the plant in the ground?

Well i have given it a good trim and indeed there are some small new buds dotted all over so am hopefully it will survive through to next spring.
Many thanks for the replies. So quick and helpful :-)

Make sure you keep it well watered over the next couple of months.