This page is for anyone who hunts in Meurthe-et-Moselle and finds a ring on a pheasant or partridge: where to report it, who validates it, and what is known about the department. The page is also meant for the ACCAs, France's approved communal hunting associations, and for the Meurthe-et-Moselle hunters' federation (FDC 54): it shows what is published and what never is. On the administrative map, department 54 belongs to the Grand Est region; its prefecture is Nancy.
Who validates recoveries in Meurthe-et-Moselle?
The Meurthe-et-Moselle hunters' federation (FDC 54) is not among the federations registered on RingFollow. A ring found in Meurthe-et-Moselle 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 54.
Reporting a ring found in Meurthe-et-Moselle
- 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 591 in Meurthe-et-Moselle: it locates the recovery but is never published.
- State the species, grey partridge or hare for example, and if you know them, the sex and circumstances of the recovery.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
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. Without a match, the report stays on file for Meurthe-et-Moselle, unpublished, until a federation can validate it.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).
The department at a glance
The European CORINE Land Cover inventory (2018) puts agricultural areas at 59% of the area and forests and semi-natural areas at 33%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (8%) and water bodies (1%). With 732,236 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 5,280 km², the density is roughly 139 inhabitants per km²; the department has 591 municipalities. Its arrondissements are administered from Nancy (prefecture), Lunéville, Toul and Val de Briey.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
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.
Meurthe-et-Moselle and its neighbours
Four departments border it: Meuse to the west, Bas-Rhin to the east, Moselle to the north-east and Vosges to the south. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Grand Est region. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 44% (Vosges) to 60% (Meuse), against 59% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 305 km to the south (centre to centre). Next comes Isère (about 395 km).
RingFollow figures for Meurthe-et-Moselle
- So far, RingFollow has no validated recovery taken in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
- The validation queue for Meurthe-et-Moselle is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
The regional picture
Besides Meurthe-et-Moselle, the Grand Est region comprises Bas-Rhin, Ardennes, Aube, Meuse, Haute-Marne, Vosges, Moselle, Marne and Haut-Rhin. None of the ten departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the Federations page).
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.
Game-bird rings: common questions
How long is a report from Meurthe-et-Moselle 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.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 305 km away between department centres.
Should a ring engraved with an address, found in Meurthe-et-Moselle, 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.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in Meurthe-et-Moselle?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
Who validates a recovery reported in Meurthe-et-Moselle?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Meurthe-et-Moselle hunters' federation (FDC 54) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
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).