The Heart of the Valley would die en route the following year. Her offspring also migrated though five of them also died but the one raised by the dunnocks survived. The mother dunnock died the following winter during a cold spell and was eaten by a fox. The surviving male dunnock mated the following year and had six offspring. The story ends with the writer taking a walk in the valley. The author once narrowly missed hitting a bird whilst driving to a railway station. On the train journey he imagined what might have happened if he hit the bird and it became the starting
European Bird Census Council forces behind population changes and use common bird indicators as a proxy for environmental health, and thus inform policy. Monitoring data is published as the European Breeding Birds Atlas, the second of which (EBBA2) is currently in preparation. The data collected as part of the PECBMS and EBBA2 programmes is also distributed on the EBCC-run portal, EuroBirdPortal, as well as through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The EBCC run a conference every three years, devoted to ornithological monitoring, conservation and research in Europe and abroad. The organisation also publishes the Journal of the European Bird Census Council, entitled "Bird