It's not all high birds and rolling redlegs...

Richard Negus seeks the advice of a brace of renowned partridge Shots before taking on the challenging Alectoris rufa of East Anglia

- Richard Negus

I try to find an East Anglian link in everything. When it comes to partridge shooting, it is not such a struggle compared with other activities, such as mountaineering or motorway spotting.

Of course, using the term ‘partridge shooting’ to encompass both Alectoris rufa and Perdix perdix is a misnomer. While the two are related and inextricably linked with the big skies and sweeping landscapes of Suffolk and Norfolk, they are, as sporting birds, quite different. For the purposes of this article, I will leave my beloved greys alone and concentrate on redlegs. As the season opened, I asked two of the finest and most East Anglian of partridge aficionados for their tips on these magnificent, yet sometimes maligned, gamebirds.

Following a number of miserable failures at introduction during the 17th century, the red-legged, French or Guernsey partridge became a UK resident in 1790. The Marquis of Hertford imported to Suffolk from France several thousand eggs for rearing and hatching.

Since then, the Frenchman has divided opinion regarding its merits as a sporting bird, particularly when compared with its grey cousin. The redleg’s habit of choosing to run off like a plump dad at the school sports day rather than fly hasn’t helped its case. Nor has its reputation for ‘flopping’ into, rather than elaborately starbursting over, the shooting line endeared it to some.