Coloured ring on the leg, number clearly legible: if you have recovered a farm-reared bird in Eure-et-Loir, 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 Eure-et-Loir hunters' federation (FDC 28): it shows what is published and what never is. On the administrative map, department 28 belongs to the Centre-Val de Loire region; its prefecture is Chartres.
Validating recoveries in Eure-et-Loir
For department 28, 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 Eure-et-Loir.
Found a ring: what to do
- Open bagues.gibis.fr on your phone and photograph the ring close up, in good light.
- Choose the municipality where the bird was taken, from the 363 in Eure-et-Loir: 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 it. For 24 hours you can still remove or add a photo.
Neighbouring departments
Seven departments border it: Sarthe to the south-west, Yvelines to the north-east, Orne to the west, Essonne to the east, Eure to the north, Loiret to the south-east and Loir-et-Cher to the south. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Normandy, Pays de la Loire and Île-de-France. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 47% (Yvelines) to 83% (Orne), against 84% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 395 km to the south-east (centre to centre).
Within the Centre-Val de Loire region
The other departments of the region are Cher, Indre-et-Loire, Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Indre. None of the six departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview). At 363, the number of municipalities here is the highest among the six departments of the Centre-Val de Loire region.
RingFollow figures for Eure-et-Loir
- No validated recovery has been located in Eure-et-Loir on RingFollow so far.
- No report linked to the department is awaiting validation.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
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 Eure-et-Loir.
The department at a glance
According to CORINE Land Cover, agricultural areas covered 84% of the department in 2018, forests and semi-natural areas 11%. The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (5%). About 5,930 km², 363 municipalities and 433,129 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. The share of agricultural areas (84%) is higher here than in any of its seven neighbours. Its arrondissements are administered from Chartres (prefecture), Châteaudun, Dreux and Nogent-le-Rotrou.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
What happens to the report
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 28 and stays out of the public totals. No hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named: only totals per department and points rounded to about 1 km.
The breeding side: gibis.fr
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.
Game-bird rings: common questions
Why are there no statistics for Eure-et-Loir?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Eure-et-Loir hunters' federation (FDC 28) does not use RingFollow at present.
Should a ring engraved with an address, found in Eure-et-Loir, 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.
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Eure-et-Loir?
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.
How long is a report from Eure-et-Loir 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.
Who validates a recovery reported in Eure-et-Loir?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Eure-et-Loir hunters' federation (FDC 28) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
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.
To get an idea of a department page with its statistics, see the sample page (simulated data).