Coloured ring on the leg, number clearly legible: if you have recovered a farm-reared bird in Aube, here is where to report it and what happens to the information. The page is also meant for the ACCAs, France's approved communal hunting associations, and for the Aube hunters' federation (FDC 10): it shows what is published and what never is. Aube is one of the ten departments of the Grand Est region, with Troyes as its prefecture.
Ring tracking in Aube
The Aube hunters' federation (FDC 10) does not use RingFollow at present. Reporting remains possible and useful: the recovery is recorded, then reviewed by a federation; GIBIS plays no part in the validation. 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 Aube.
Found a ring: what to do
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Choose the municipality where the bird was taken, from the 431 in Aube: it locates the recovery but is never published.
- If the bird carries a wing tag rather than a leg ring, say so at the same step, together with the species.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
What next?
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 Without a match, the report stays on file for Aube, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. Reports are kept for five hunting seasons after the recovery, then retained only in anonymised form for statistics (see the privacy policy).
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.
The breeding side: gibis.fr
RingFollow tracks rings; breeding, species and restocking are covered on gibis.fr: game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges.
Key facts about Aube
The European CORINE Land Cover inventory (2018) puts agricultural areas at 69% of the area and forests and semi-natural areas at 26%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (4%) and water bodies (1%). With 310,447 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 6,020 km², the density is roughly 52 inhabitants per km²; the department has 431 municipalities. Besides Troyes, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: Bar-sur-Aube and Nogent-sur-Seine.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Recoveries and reports in Aube
- The count of validated recoveries in Aube still stands at zero.
- No report linked to the department is awaiting validation.
- For comparison, all of France: 3,592 ringed birds in 85 releases and 16 validated recoveries (5 participating federations); details on the Statistics page.
Across the borders
Five departments border it: Yonne to the south-west, Marne to the north, Côte-d'Or to the south-east, Haute-Marne to the east and Seine-et-Marne to the west. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Île-de-France. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 57% (Haute-Marne) to 74% (Marne), against 69% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 260 km to the south (centre to centre). Next come Isère (about 355 km) and Haute-Loire (about 355 km).
The Grand Est region and RingFollow
The other departments of the region are Moselle, Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Vosges, Ardennes and Haute-Marne. None of the ten departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview).
Game-bird rings: common questions
Who validates a recovery reported in Aube?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Aube hunters' federation (FDC 10) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 260 km away between department centres.
Can I report a ring without a mobile signal in Aube?
Yes. The form keeps the report on the phone and sends it as soon as coverage returns, wherever you are in Aube.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Aube?
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.
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
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 Aube so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).