This page is for anyone who hunts in Moselle 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 Metz.
The federation and RingFollow
For department 57, no federation uses RingFollow at present. A ring found in 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 57.
Found a ring: what to do
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Enter the municipality, Metz or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- If the bird carries a wing tag rather than a leg ring, say so at the same step, together with the species.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
Within the Grand Est region
Besides Moselle, the Grand Est region comprises Ardennes, Meuse, Aube, Vosges, Marne, Haute-Marne, Haut-Rhin, Meurthe-et-Moselle and Bas-Rhin. None of the ten departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the list by region).
Moselle in figures
According to CORINE Land Cover, agricultural areas covered 58% of the department in 2018, forests and semi-natural areas 30%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (10%) and water bodies (1%). INSEE counts 725 municipalities and 1,051,309 inhabitants (2022 population count) over about 6,250 km². With the number of municipalities at 725, the department is in the top five of the 96 departments of metropolitan France. Besides Metz, the prefecture, the department has four sub-prefectures: Forbach, Sarrebourg, Sarreguemines and Thionville.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Moselle and its neighbours
Two departments border it: Meurthe-et-Moselle to the south-west and Bas-Rhin to the south-east. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Grand Est region. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 49% (Bas-Rhin) to 59% (Meurthe-et-Moselle), against 58% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 340 km to the south (centre to centre).
What a reported ring is for
The recovery rate is the number of validated rings divided by the number of birds released. It only exists if hunters report, in Moselle as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
What next?
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 57 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).
Recoveries and reports in Moselle
- The count of validated recoveries in Moselle still stands at zero.
- The validation queue for Moselle 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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 340 km away between department centres.
Will my name appear on the Moselle page?
No. Public pages only show totals per department, never a count below 3; no hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in 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 Moselle.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Moselle?
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.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Moselle?
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
Hunter or ACCA official in Moselle? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
Few figures for Moselle so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).