A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Sarthe only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Part of the Pays de la Loire region, which has five departments, the department is administered from Le Mans.
Ring tracking in Sarthe
The Sarthe hunters' federation (FDC 72) does not use RingFollow at present. A ring found in Sarthe can still be reported: the report is recorded, and it will be validated by a federation, never by GIBIS. 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 Sarthe.
Reporting in four steps
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Say where the bird was taken: the municipality is used for validation and never appears in public.
- 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.
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 Sarthe as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
From report to validation
The report is recorded as soon as it arrives, with the photo and the municipality given. 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 Without a match, the report stays on file for Sarthe, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. No hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named: only totals per department and points rounded to about 1 km.
Recoveries and reports in Sarthe
- The count of validated recoveries in Sarthe still stands at zero.
- No report linked to the department is awaiting validation.
- For comparison, all of France: 3,592 ringed birds in 85 releases and 16 validated recoveries (5 participating federations); details on the Statistics page.
Neighbouring departments
Six departments border it: Indre-et-Loire to the south-east, Loir-et-Cher to the south-east, Orne to the north, Eure-et-Loir to the north-east, Maine-et-Loire to the south-west and Mayenne to the west. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Centre-Val de Loire and Normandy. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 62% (Loir-et-Cher) to 90% (Mayenne), against 78% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). No federation registered on RingFollow lies within 400 km; all of them are listed on the Federations page.
Further reading
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.
The regional picture
Besides Sarthe, the Pays de la Loire region comprises Maine-et-Loire, Vendée, Loire-Atlantique and Mayenne. None of the five departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the Federations page). The share of agricultural areas (78%) is lower here than in any other department of the Pays de la Loire region.
Key facts about Sarthe
Land cover in 2018 (CORINE Land Cover): agricultural areas lead with 78%, followed by forests and semi-natural areas (17%). The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (5%). With 566,733 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 6,240 km², the density is roughly 91 inhabitants per km²; the department has 352 municipalities. Besides Le Mans, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: La Flèche and Mamers.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Your questions about Sarthe
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Sarthe?
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.
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.
How long is a report from Sarthe 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.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Sarthe?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
Registering a federation
The situation of every federation is on the Federations page. A federation that would like to track its recoveries can write to gibis@gibis.fr.
Few figures for Sarthe so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).