Fallen branches

Fallen branches (taken from staircase window)

Originally uploaded by John Barnabas.

These branches fell off the horse chestnut tree just outside our back door on Thursday night. It was a frosty night without a breath of wind, so what brought the branches down is a bit of a mystery.

The tree has been rotting away from the inside for some years, so I suspect that frost got into the places where the branches joined the trunk and weakened the wood to a point where the branches just sheered off. Three branches came down. I suspect the highest one came first.

The branches did quite a bit of damage to our fence and the barbecue, but I am glad to say that no one was outside or near the branches at the time. Erica was inside the house and heard a noise at about 7.30pm. It wasn’t until we let the dog out to pee last thing that we saw what had happened and Erica connected the noise she’d heard to the falling branches.

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