Interesting neighbours! how common?

[pegasus]

Our next door neighbours have discovered nesting red-legged partridges in their garden complete with 9 frisky chicks.They had not noticed a nest anywhere in the garden and were not unsuprisingly a little shocked at first.They called the local press who duly reported the story complete with pictures ' EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT -GROUSE CHICKS IN LOCAL GARDEN'---the actual headline was 'local family have no grouse with their with new arrivals'------They also contacted a local wildlife centre who advised to them let the birds get on with it [if they can avoid the local moggies] and that they were in fact red-legged partridges.Oddly enough i noticed a pair of RLP's a few weeks back nibbling in a garden opposite me and i thought it unusual on a small urban estate[presumably mum and dad to be] We live in a market town in cheshire and our houses are about 1/4 mile from open fields.I wonder how common it is for Red legged Patridges to nest in peoples garden