A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Charente 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. On the administrative map, department 16 belongs to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region; its prefecture is Angoulême.
The federation and RingFollow
The Charente hunters' federation (FDC 16) is not among the federations registered on RingFollow. A ring found in Charente can still be reported: the report is recorded, and it will be validated by a federation, never by GIBIS. 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 16.
Found a ring: what to do
- Photograph the ring, on the leg or once removed; if the number runs all the way round, take several shots.
- Enter the municipality, Angoulême or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (red-legged partridge, grey partridge, pheasant and hare); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send the report; name, phone and e-mail are optional, but an e-mail address gets you an acknowledgement.
From report to validation
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. If no release matches, the report is kept under department 16 and stays out of the public totals. The public only sees totals per department; points on the national map are rounded to about 1 km.
The breeding side: gibis.fr
The ringed birds tracked here come from the GIBIS game farm in Chatte (Isère). For the pheasant strain, see PUR CHASSE® pheasants; for restocking in general, restocking game birds.
The regional picture
The other departments of the region are Haute-Vienne, Dordogne, Vienne, Gironde, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, Corrèze, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres, Lot-et-Garonne and Creuse. None of the 12 departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview).
Around Charente
Five departments border it: Haute-Vienne to the east, Charente-Maritime to the west, Vienne to the north, Dordogne to the south-east and Deux-Sèvres to the north-west. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 52% (Dordogne) to 88% (Deux-Sèvres), against 74% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). The nearest department whose federation tracks its rings on RingFollow is Haute-Loire, about 290 km to the east as the crow flies between department centres. Next comes Ain (about 400 km).
Recoveries and reports in Charente
- No validated recovery has been located in Charente on RingFollow so far.
- The validation queue for Charente is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
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.
Charente in figures
According to CORINE Land Cover, agricultural areas covered 74% of the department in 2018, forests and semi-natural areas 21%. The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (5%). INSEE counts 359 municipalities and 352,683 inhabitants (2022 population count) over about 5,970 km². At 352,683 inhabitants in 2022, the population here is the lowest among the department and its five neighbours. Its arrondissements are administered from Angoulême (prefecture), Cognac and Confolens.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Your questions about Charente
Should a ring engraved with an address, found in Charente, be reported here?
No. RingFollow only covers game-farm rings, which carry no address. Rings from scientific ringing schemes are reported to those schemes; this site's guide tells you more.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Charente?
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.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Charente?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Charente?
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.
Why are there no statistics for Charente?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Charente hunters' federation (FDC 16) does not use RingFollow at present.
A federation that would like to track its rings
Hunter or ACCA official in Charente? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
Few figures for Charente so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).