{"id":674363,"date":"2026-07-05T02:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/674363\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T02:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:21:16","slug":"viral-picture-prompts-call-for-more-islanders-to-help-wildlife-in-their-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/674363\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral picture prompts call for more Islanders to help wildlife in their gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

A WOMAN whose cat became a social media star for befriending hedgehogs in her garden has encouraged others to follow her lead and help local wildlife.<\/p>\n

Nikki Summers, who lives in St Lawrence, posted a photo of her cat Percy surrounded by a group of hedgehogs in her garden on Facebook.<\/p>\n

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The post garnered attention from hundreds of Islanders, with Nikki\u2019s friends telling her she is like a \u201cDisney princess\u201d.<\/p>\n

As well as hedgehogs, Nikki\u2019s garden \u2013 which is located on a green lane \u2013 has been visited by birds, ducks, squirrels and even a peacock.<\/p>\n

She said she wants to encourage other Islanders to support their own local wildlife \u2013 whether that is with a bird feeder, water, or by creating passages for hedgehogs to move between gardens.<\/p>\n

Nikki moved to St Lawrence two years ago and was delighted by the amount of wildlife she sees now, after previously living in town and in St Saviour.<\/p>\n

She said that around six weeks ago, she saw a \u201creally big\u201d hedgehog in the garden and put some water out for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next day, there were two, then three,\u201d said Nikki. \u201cOne night, there were seven!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nikki thought they might be hedgehogs that were rescued and released back into the wild nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can get really close to you \u2013 one foot or two away,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

She hasn\u2019t yet learnt to tell apart the hedgehogs, apart from one larger one who arrives first. <\/p>\n

\"\"A hedgehog visiting Nikki\u2019s garden.\u00a0 Picture: ROB CURRIE<\/p>\n

Nikki added that she was unsure if the group of hedgehogs \u2013 known as a \u201cprickle\u201d \u2013\u00a0were a family, a pack, or if they only came together for mealtimes.<\/p>\n

But, regardless of their relationship, the prickle has given Nikki \u201cso much to see\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have started not sitting in front of the TV, but sitting in the garden watching wildlife,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to help wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garden tips<\/p>\n

The Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group encourages Islanders to:<\/p>\n

garden organically without pesticides, chemicals, slug pellets or weedkillers<\/p>\n

keep at least a corner of the garden wild<\/p>\n

cut a small hole at the bottom of fences to create a \u201chedgehog highway\u201d to allow animals to move between gardens<\/p>\n

provide water and cat or dog food, particularly in the autumn<\/p>\n

add nest sites, logs or even a pond<\/p>\n

beware of dangers like bonfires, garden tools, pools, ponds, netting, string and litter \u2013 particularly during branchage season.<\/p>\n

Injured hedgehogs can be reported to the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group on 734340.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A WOMAN whose cat became a social media star for befriending hedgehogs in her garden has encouraged others…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1397,927,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-674363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-environment","tag-garden","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}