Animal activists free birds allegedly at estate used by Nick Clegg Animal rights activists are suspected to have freed nearly 400 birds being reared for game shooting at Nick Clegg's grace-and-favour country estate. The roof covering some of the pens in the birds" enclosure on the Chevening Estate in Sundridge, Kent, was forced open, allowing them to escape. About 380 partridges, pheasants and grouse are thought to have flown away, leaving just 20 birds left behind. The Chevening Estate is shared as a weekend residence by the Deputy Prime Minister and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary. A Kent Police spokesman said: "Between Monday, October 7 at 8pm and Tuesday, October 8 at 9pm, the roof of some game pens on property off Chevening Road were damaged allowing birds to escape. We are not ruling out the possibility of it having been carried out by animal rights activists. The Chevening Estate refused to comment on the birds' release, saying the shoot and associated enclosures were sub-let to a tenant. The state-owned Chevening House and estate consists of 3,000 acres, including a lake, maze and 530 acres of mixed woodland. The property was built in the 17th Century and has 115 rooms.