A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Vienne only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. The page is also meant for the ACCAs, France's approved communal hunting associations, and for the Vienne hunters' federation (FDC 86): it shows what is published and what never is. Vienne is one of the 12 departments of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, with Poitiers as its prefecture.
Validating recoveries in Vienne
For department 86, 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 Vienne.
From photo to report
- 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 265 in Vienne: it locates the recovery but is never published.
- Pick the species from the list (pheasant, grey partridge, hare and red-legged partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send it. For 24 hours you can still remove or add a photo.
What happens to the report
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 Without a match, the report stays on file for Vienne, unpublished, until a federation can validate it.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.
What a reported ring is for
Every recovery reported gives a date, a distance and a species. Added together, they give an operation's recovery rate and how far the birds disperse after release: enough to adjust future releases in Vienne.
Around Vienne
Its neighbours are Maine-et-Loire to the north-west, Charente to the south, Haute-Vienne to the south-east, Indre to the east, Indre-et-Loire to the north and Deux-Sèvres to the west. Beyond the regional boundary lie the regions of Centre-Val de Loire and Pays de la Loire. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 68% (Haute-Vienne) to 88% (Deux-Sèvres), against 79% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Haute-Loire, about 305 km to the south-east (centre to centre). Next comes Ain (about 380 km).
Vienne in figures
Land cover in 2018 (CORINE Land Cover): agricultural areas lead with 79%, followed by forests and semi-natural areas (16%). The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (4%). About 7,040 km², 265 municipalities and 438,897 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. Its arrondissements are administered from Poitiers (prefecture), Châtellerault and Montmorillon.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
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 Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and RingFollow
The other departments of the region are Gironde, Charente-Maritime, Charente, Corrèze, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Lot-et-Garonne, Creuse, Deux-Sèvres, Landes, Haute-Vienne and Dordogne. None of the 12 departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview).
Recoveries and reports in Vienne
- So far, RingFollow has no validated recovery taken in Vienne.
- The validation queue for Vienne 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.
Game-bird rings: common questions
Why are there no statistics for Vienne?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Vienne hunters' federation (FDC 86) does not use RingFollow at present.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Vienne?
No. Name, phone and e-mail are optional; an e-mail address only gets you an acknowledgement. Only the validating federation sees what you leave.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Vienne?
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.
Where do I report a pheasant ring found in Vienne?
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.
Who validates a recovery reported in Vienne?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Vienne hunters' federation (FDC 86) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
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 Vienne so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).