A bird taken in Pas-de-Calais carries a coloured, numbered ring? That number is enough to trace it back to its release, whether you hunt near Arras or in any of the department's 887 municipalities. Reports are useful to the ACCAs (approved communal hunting associations) and federations that organise releases; the public only ever sees totals per department. Pas-de-Calais is one of the five departments of the Hauts-de-France region, with Arras as its prefecture.
Who validates recoveries in Pas-de-Calais?
For department 62, 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 Pas-de-Calais.
Reporting in four steps
- 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 887 in Pas-de-Calais: it locates the recovery but is never published.
- State the species, hare or pheasant for example, and if you know them, the sex and circumstances of the recovery.
- Send it. For 24 hours you can still remove or add a photo.
RingFollow figures for Pas-de-Calais
- No validated recovery has been located in Pas-de-Calais 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 happens to the report
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 62 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).
The regional picture
The other departments of the region are Nord, Oise, Aisne and Somme. None of the five departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the Federations page). At 7%, the share of forests and semi-natural areas here is the lowest among the five departments of the Hauts-de-France region.
The department at a glance
According to CORINE Land Cover, agricultural areas covered 80% of the department in 2018, artificial surfaces 12%. The rest is shared between forests and semi-natural areas (7%) and wetlands (1%). With 1,457,905 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 6,690 km², the density is roughly 218 inhabitants per km²; the department has 887 municipalities. The number of municipalities (887) is higher here than in any other department of metropolitan France. Besides Arras, the prefecture, the department has six sub-prefectures: Béthune, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lens, Montreuil-sur-Mer and Saint-Omer.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Across the borders
Its neighbours are Somme to the south and Nord to the east. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Hauts-de-France region. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 72% (Nord) to 82% (Somme), against 80% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). No federation registered on RingFollow lies within 400 km; all of them are listed on the Federations page.
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 Pas-de-Calais as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
Breeding and restocking
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
How long is a report from Pas-de-Calais 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.
Can I report a ring without a mobile signal in Pas-de-Calais?
Yes. The form keeps the report on the phone and sends it as soon as coverage returns, wherever you are in Pas-de-Calais.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Pas-de-Calais?
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 Pas-de-Calais?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its neighbours, and no federation within 400 km. The full list is on the Federations page.
Registering a federation
Hunter or ACCA official in Pas-de-Calais? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
To get an idea of a department page with its statistics, see the sample page (simulated data).