On 22 Dec, 23:06, Judith in France
wrote:
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. *They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

I would take care to remove any limbs that have split or cracked, to
avoid scars or entry of disease, but otherwise they should be fine.

Mine have been hacked mercilessly when branches intruded over the path
or attempted to strangle the telephone wires, and they shrug it off
and grow furiously to replace what has been lost,

In theory you should do it at the end of the growing season or just as
the new one starts, i.e. not now - but they will normally cope with
just about anything if well established.

If you had yours in an elegant candle-flame outline that can be quite
difficult to restore, as they will regrow pretty much at an angle to
the cut if you leave buds between the stem and the cut. But I have
heard of people doing it by pruning over several years.