This page is for anyone who hunts in Marne and finds a ring on a pheasant or partridge: where to report it, who validates it, and what is known about the department. Reports are useful to the ACCAs (approved communal hunting associations) and federations that organise releases; the public only ever sees totals per department. Part of the Grand Est region, which has ten departments, the department is administered from Châlons-en-Champagne.
Validating recoveries in Marne
For department 51, no federation uses RingFollow at present. Nothing changes for the hunter: the report is made the same way, and federations, not GIBIS, validate recoveries. 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 Marne.
Found a ring: what to do
- Open bagues.gibis.fr on your phone and photograph the ring close up, in good light.
- Enter the municipality, Châlons-en-Champagne or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (grey partridge, pheasant, red-legged partridge and hare); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send it. For 24 hours you can still remove or add a photo.
One ring, one data point
The recovery rate is the number of validated rings divided by the number of birds released. It only exists if hunters report, in Marne as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
Further reading
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 department at a glance
The European CORINE Land Cover inventory (2018) puts agricultural areas at 74% of the area and forests and semi-natural areas at 20%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (4%) and water bodies (1%). With 563,076 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 8,190 km², the density is roughly 69 inhabitants per km²; the department has 610 municipalities. Besides Châlons-en-Champagne, the prefecture, the department has three sub-prefectures: Épernay, Reims and Vitry-le-François.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Recoveries and reports in Marne
- No validated recovery has been located in Marne 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.
Within the Grand Est region
The other departments of the region are Aube, Bas-Rhin, Haute-Marne, Moselle, Ardennes, Meuse, Vosges, Meurthe-et-Moselle and Haut-Rhin. None of the ten departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview). At 74%, the share of agricultural areas here is the highest among the ten departments of the Grand Est region.
Around Marne
Its neighbours are Haute-Marne to the south-east, Aube to the south, Seine-et-Marne to the west, Meuse to the east, Ardennes to the north and Aisne to the north-west. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Hauts-de-France and Île-de-France. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 57% (Haute-Marne) to 74% (Aisne), against 74% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 330 km to the south (centre to centre).
From report to validation
Once sent, the report is kept; if you left an e-mail address, an acknowledgement follows. 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 51 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).
Your questions about Marne
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 330 km away between department centres.
How long is a report from Marne 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.
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Marne?
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.
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.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Marne?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
A federation that would like to track its rings
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).