Which variety of Salix - is it Hakuro Nishiki - if so, the leaves on that should be pale, variegated pink and green right from the start. Or do you have Acer 'flamingo' - that starts out quite green with some white, and the pink coloration appears as the season progresses.

Its a Hakuro Nishiki one, it is green and faeds to white to edges, the feathery bits that grow out arent pink though, is that a problem?

Not really - the pink's not that noticeable on them anyway, mostly a whitish look to them. Pink is much more noticeable on the Acer I mentioned.

thats great thank you

One other thought - it does seem to colour a little better in full sun, so if yours is somewhere quite shady, that might explain the lack of pinkish tones.