A bird taken in Aisne carries a coloured, numbered ring? That number is enough to trace it back to its release, whether you hunt near Laon or in any of the department's 797 municipalities. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. On the administrative map, department 02 belongs to the Hauts-de-France region; its prefecture is Laon.
Validating recoveries in Aisne
The Aisne hunters' federation (FDC 02) does not use RingFollow at present. A ring found in Aisne can still be reported: the report is recorded, and it will be validated by a federation, never by GIBIS. If the bird comes from a release in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery; otherwise the report stays on file for Aisne.
Reporting in four steps
- Open bagues.gibis.fr on your phone and photograph the ring close up, in good light.
- Say where the bird was taken: the municipality is used for validation and never appears in public.
- State the species, hare or pheasant for example, and if you know them, the sex and circumstances of the recovery.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
Recoveries and reports in Aisne
- The count of validated recoveries in Aisne still stands at zero.
- The validation queue for Aisne is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
Further reading
Species, delivery and release planning are a matter for the breeder: see game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges on gibis.fr.
The Hauts-de-France region and RingFollow
Besides Aisne, the Hauts-de-France region comprises Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Oise and Somme. None of the five departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the Federations page). The share of artificial surfaces (6%) is lower here than in any other department of the Hauts-de-France region.
One ring, one data point
ACCAs and federations fund releases; rings are the only way to know what they yield in the field. Consolidated figures are public on the Statistics page, by department.
From report to validation
The report is recorded as soon as it arrives, with the photo and the municipality given. The ring number is then matched against known releases; if one took place in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery. Without a match, the report stays on file for Aisne, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. No hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named: only totals per department and points rounded to about 1 km.
Land and population
According to CORINE Land Cover, agricultural areas covered 74% of the department in 2018, forests and semi-natural areas 20%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (6%) and water bodies (1%). INSEE counts 797 municipalities and 523,342 inhabitants (2022 population count) over about 7,400 km². Among the 96 departments of metropolitan France, it ranks 2nd for the number of municipalities (797). Besides Laon, the prefecture, the department has four sub-prefectures: Château-Thierry, Saint-Quentin, Soissons and Vervins.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Across the borders
Six departments border it: Nord to the north, Somme to the north-west, Seine-et-Marne to the south-west, Oise to the west, Ardennes to the east and Marne to the south-east. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Grand Est and Île-de-France. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 63% (Seine-et-Marne) to 82% (Somme), against 74% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). No federation registered on RingFollow lies within 400 km; all of them are listed on the Federations page.
Frequently asked questions
Why are there no statistics for Aisne?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Aisne hunters' federation (FDC 02) does not use RingFollow at present.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Aisne?
No. Name, phone and e-mail are optional; an e-mail address only gets you an acknowledgement. Only the validating federation sees what you leave.
Who validates a recovery reported in Aisne?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Aisne hunters' federation (FDC 02) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Aisne?
On bagues.gibis.fr, from a phone: a photo of the ring, the species and the municipality where the bird was taken are enough. No account is needed.
What if the ring number is illegible?
Take several well-lit photos from different angles, then correct the suggested number if needed. The photos stay attached to the report for the validating federation.
Registering a federation
Hunter or ACCA official in Aisne? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
Few figures for Aisne so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).