A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Ardèche only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which has 12 departments, the department is administered from Privas.
Ring tracking in Ardèche
For department 07, no federation uses RingFollow at present. Reporting remains possible and useful: the recovery is recorded, then reviewed by a federation; GIBIS plays no part in the validation. The ring number leads back to the original release: if the federation of the department where it took place is registered, it validates; if not, the report waits, filed under department 07.
Reporting a ring found in Ardèche
- 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.
- Pick the species from the list (grey partridge, hare, pheasant and red-legged partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
The regional picture
The other departments of the region are Cantal, Isère, Haute-Loire, Savoie, Rhône, Haute-Savoie, Drôme, Puy-de-Dôme, Loire, Ain and Allier. Three of the 12 departments in the region have their federation on RingFollow: Ain, Isère and Haute-Loire (see the list by region).
RingFollow figures for Ardèche
- The count of validated recoveries in Ardèche still stands at zero.
- The validation queue for Ardèche is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
Ardèche and its neighbours
Seven departments border it: Drôme to the east, Gard to the south, Isère to the north-east, Vaucluse to the south-east, Haute-Loire to the north-west, Loire to the north and Lozère to the west. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Occitania and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Among its neighbours, the share of forests and semi-natural areas ranges from 30% (Loire) to 73% (Lozère), against 69% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). Two neighbours already track their rings on RingFollow: Isère and Haute-Loire.
- Drôme (26)
- Gard (30)
- Isère (38) on RingFollow
- Loire (42)
- Haute-Loire (43) on RingFollow
- Lozère (48)
- Vaucluse (84)
What a reported ring is for
Every recovery reported gives a date, a distance and a species. Added together, they give an operation's recovery rate and how far the birds disperse after release: enough to adjust future releases in Ardèche.
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.
Ardèche in figures
According to CORINE Land Cover, forests and semi-natural areas covered 69% of the department in 2018, agricultural areas 27%. The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (4%). About 5,570 km², 335 municipalities and 334,231 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. Its arrondissements are administered from Privas (prefecture), Largentière and Tournon-sur-Rhône.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
After you send it
Once sent, the report is kept; if you left an e-mail address, an acknowledgement follows. Next comes the matching: does the ring belong to a recorded release? If so, and if that department's federation is registered, it reviews the recovery. Without a match, the report stays on file for Ardèche, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. The public only sees totals per department; points on the national map are rounded to about 1 km.
Your questions about Ardèche
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Ardèche?
A coloured, numbered leg ring, or a numbered coloured plastic wing tag, with no address. A ring engraved with an address belongs to another scheme: the guide explains where to report it.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in Ardèche?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Ardèche.
Who validates a recovery reported in Ardèche?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Ardèche hunters' federation (FDC 07) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
How long is a report from Ardèche kept?
Five hunting seasons, the duration of the restocking study. After that it is kept only in anonymised form, without contact details or licence number.
Why are there no statistics for Ardèche?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Ardèche hunters' federation (FDC 07) does not use RingFollow at present.
Registering a federation
A registered federation validates the recoveries in its own department and can export its data. Full list: Federations; contact: gibis@gibis.fr.
Few figures for Ardèche so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).