Broken boughs

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
I was rocked to sleep with this old lullaby when I was little - and it quickly came to mind when I was collecting photos to show the disastrous effect the current heavy snow falls have had on our trees and shrubs.
When I grew beyond the baby stage and went to school and started my love affair with all plant matters, we were told that deciduous trees lost their leaves in winter to protect them from breaking with the weight of snow on the boughs. We have a problem this year around our way anyway, because the leaves had simply not fallen before the snow came, and we now see the extraordinary sight of fallen leaves on top of the snow!
Sadly it seems that many trees have succumbed to breaking, particularly the mighty Oaks, and there will be much clearing up to do come Spring time.