A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Calvados only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. Reports are useful to the ACCAs (approved communal hunting associations) and federations that organise releases; the public only ever sees totals per department. Calvados is one of the five departments of the Normandy region, with Caen as its prefecture.
Who validates recoveries in Calvados?
For department 14, 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. 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 Calvados.
Reporting a ring found in Calvados
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Enter the municipality, Caen or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (pheasant, red-legged partridge, hare and grey partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send the report; name, phone and e-mail are optional, but an e-mail address gets you an acknowledgement.
Key facts about Calvados
Land cover in 2018 (CORINE Land Cover): agricultural areas lead with 85%, followed by forests and semi-natural areas (8%). The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (7%). With 709,441 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 5,580 km², the density is roughly 127 inhabitants per km²; the department has 526 municipalities. At about 127 inhabitants per km², population density here is the highest among the department and its three neighbours. Its arrondissements are administered from Caen (prefecture), Bayeux, Lisieux and Vire Normandie.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Within the Normandy region
The other departments of the region are Orne, Manche, Seine-Maritime and Eure. None of the five departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the list by region).
What happens to the report
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. If no release matches, the report is kept under department 14 and stays out of the public totals. Reports are kept for five hunting seasons after the recovery, then retained only in anonymised form for statistics (see the privacy policy).
Calvados and its neighbours
Three departments border it: Eure to the east, Orne to the south-east and Manche to the west. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Normandy region. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 72% (Eure) to 90% (Manche), against 85% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). No federation registered on RingFollow lies within 400 km; all of them are listed on the Federations page.
RingFollow figures for Calvados
- No validated recovery has been located in Calvados on RingFollow so far.
- The validation queue for Calvados is empty.
- For comparison, all of France: 3,592 ringed birds in 85 releases and 16 validated recoveries (5 participating federations); details on the Statistics page.
Why report a recovery
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 Calvados.
Further reading
RingFollow tracks rings; breeding, species and restocking are covered on gibis.fr: game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a report from Calvados 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.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Calvados?
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.
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Calvados?
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.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its neighbours, and no federation within 400 km. The full list is on the Federations page.
Who validates a recovery reported in Calvados?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Calvados hunters' federation (FDC 14) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
For federations
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 Calvados so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).