This page is for anyone who hunts in Essonne and finds a ring on a pheasant or partridge: where to report it, who validates it, and what is known about the department. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Essonne is one of the eight departments of the Île-de-France region, with Évry-Courcouronnes as its prefecture.
Who validates recoveries in Essonne?
The Essonne hunters' federation (FDC 91) does not use 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 Essonne.
Reporting a ring found in Essonne
- Photograph the ring, on the leg or once removed; if the number runs all the way round, take several shots.
- Enter the municipality, Évry-Courcouronnes or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (red-legged partridge, hare, pheasant and grey partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
The regional picture
Besides Essonne, the Île-de-France region comprises Seine-et-Marne, Val-d'Oise, Val-de-Marne, Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Yvelines. None of the eight departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the Federations page).
Around Essonne
Its neighbours are Seine-et-Marne to the east, Loiret to the south, Yvelines to the north-west, Eure-et-Loir to the west, Hauts-de-Seine to the north and Val-de-Marne to the north-east. Beyond the regional boundary lies the region of Centre-Val de Loire. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 0% (Hauts-de-Seine) to 84% (Eure-et-Loir), against 52% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 355 km to the south-east (centre to centre). Next comes Haute-Loire (about 395 km).
What happens to the report
Once sent, the report is kept; if you left an e-mail address, an acknowledgement follows. 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 91 and stays out of the public totals. The public only sees totals per department; points on the national map are rounded to about 1 km.
RingFollow figures for Essonne
- No validated recovery has been located in Essonne on RingFollow so far.
- The validation queue for Essonne is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
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 Essonne as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
The department at a glance
Land cover in 2018 (CORINE Land Cover): agricultural areas lead with 52%, followed by artificial surfaces (25%). The rest is shared between forests and semi-natural areas (22%) and water bodies (1%). With 1,338,485 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 1,820 km², the density is roughly 735 inhabitants per km²; the department has 194 municipalities. Besides Évry-Courcouronnes, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: Étampes and Palaiseau.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Breeding and restocking
RingFollow tracks rings; breeding, species and restocking are covered on gibis.fr: game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges.
Game-bird rings: common questions
Should a ring engraved with an address, found in Essonne, 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 Essonne?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Essonne.
Will my name appear on the Essonne page?
No. Public pages only show totals per department, never a count below 3; no hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named.
Who validates a recovery reported in Essonne?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Essonne hunters' federation (FDC 91) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 355 km away between department centres.
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).