Harry Saddler

@harrysaddler

Wrote a book about a bird (the Eastern Curlew, 2018), a river (A Clear Flowing Yarra, 2023), and a global existential crisis or three (Questions Raised By Quolls, 2021).

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Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· 22d

Visited by some angels today 🥰

Two Australian king parrots perched on the frame of a practice soccer goal in a suburban garden. The parrot on the right has a red head, red chest, and green wing and green tail. It’s an adult male. The parrot on the left has a red belly but the rest of it is green, and it has a blackish beak indicating that it is an adult female.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· 26d

Seems bad! Seems bad!!! web.archive.org/web/20201019...

A screenshot of two paragraphs from the linked article. They read:

‘The filming process was also disastrous. In an interview for Den of Geek, Joely Richardson — one of the stars — described the experience as “cursed” and shared a couple of horror stories. The most notable one involves explosions and memory loss.

‘“There was one scene with Sam Neill and me at the console. We were meant to be typing away and then on a count of three, there’d be a fake explosion and we’d throw ourselves back off our chairs. When Sam and I did the scene for real, there was the count of three and then neither of us remember what happened next. The explosion went go off and we woke up a few moments later on the floor. That happened every single time!”’

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· 28d

My take: Argentina deserve to lose because they’ve taken one of the great jerseys in world sport and made it unnecessarily ugly

Argentina’s famous blue and white striped football jersey but for some reason the blue stripes have an ugly black trim and a cheap-looking colour grading effect

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 11

Also saw four Krefft’s gliders, two wombats, and this powerful owl who had caught a ringtail possum! Very good night

Black-and-white night vision footage of a large owl perched high in a tree, carrying the corpse of a possum which isn’t much smaller than it

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 11

Went spotlighting tonight and saw a million swamp wallabies INCLUDING one with a joey in its pouch!!!!!! I couldn’t possibly count the number of swampies I’ve seen in my life and I’ve seen a couple with joeys at heel but I’ve NEVER seen one with a joey in the pouch 🥹 Here’s a terrible photo:

A black-and-white night vision showing a dark wallaby standing amid trees. Her eyeshine is visible and lower down, at pouch level, the eyeshine of her baby is also visible.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 10

www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...

The Simpsons Australian episode “Have a sook cunt” meme. Prime Minister Andy from the Australian episode of the Simpsons, a slightly rotund white man, floating naked in a rubber tube on a farm dam, raising a can of Fosters beer to two men in the distance and saying “Have a sook cunt”.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 10

I’ve been incredibly bad about updating this thread but check out this gaggle of (I think) trim greenhoods, Pterostylis concinna (there are a million greenhoods and they all look pretty much the same). Eltham, outer Melbourne 9 July 2026:

Several dozen tiny green flowers amid a grassy forest understory. Each flower is on a long stalk and comprises a green hood-like structure with two stalks sticking up on either side, and a pointed nose. They’re just funny little guys!

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 9

@luke-buckmaster.bsky.social Don’t know if you spend any time on FB but uhhhh have you seen the video the official Raiders page posted last night??

A screenshot from a video posted to the Canberra Raiders Facebook page. It shows Phil Gould, a man with no neck wearing a suit even though he looks like someone (a former rugby league footballer) who has no business wearing a suit, strolling across a rugby league field, staring into a camera and pontificating into a hand-held microphone. He is Australian Rugby League’s greatest blowhard and everything about the image screams exactly that. This man should not have a public platform. Nobody should respect him. And yet

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 5

Find something you love as much as a cat loves central heating

A tabby/tortoiseshell cat lying on the floor of a house stretched out across a central heating vent

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jul 1

Can very strongly recommend turning off your phone for a couple of days and staring out a window or two instead; if you can do it in the company of someone who you love with your whole heart then all the better

A window reflected in another window, such that an image of clouds and clear sky is superimposed over a row of trees, as if by hologram.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 25

Just got the book on the left, which is the most recent edition of the book on the right, which I’m sure very many of you recognise and maybe even own. And I know the past is a foreign country etc but I can’t even fathom an Australia that launches a wildlife book live on TV, how far we’ve fallen

Two large hardcover books side-by-side: the newer, slightly smaller one on the left has a picture of an echidna on the front and is called “Strahan’s Mammals of Australia”; the larger of the two books which is on the right has a photo of a glider (I think a squirrel glider) on the front and is called “The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals”.

The first paragraph of the introduction to “Strahan’s Mammals of Australia”. It says:

“Strahan's Mammals of Australia started life as The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals, launched with great fanfare in a nationally televised gathering of the authors of species accounts, accompanied by their live subjects, in 1983.”

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 22

Congratulations to the Guardian picture editors for using the funniest possible photo of sad Keir Starmer. Good riddance to a spineless bag of crap!

Former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer standing at a lectern outside Number 10 Downing Street with a big cartoon sad frown on his face, looking preposterous.

A close-up of Keir Starmer’s sad feeling-sorry-for-himself face. Good I hate him!!

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 22

God’s perfect animal

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 21

Turned up early to watch reserve grade and now I’m being tormented by the accursed sun

A mostly empty rectangular stadium. Most of it is in bright sunshine.

Me (a bearded white man) sitting in the bright sun, squinting.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 21

Let’s fkn go I guess

A bearded white man (me) on a Melbourne train wearing a Canberra Raiders jersey

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 21

A reminder that in addition to saying we should give islands in Queensland to Elon Musk, last week Gina Rinehart said that we should give land near Townsville to Iraeli weapons manufacturers www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06...

A quote from a speech by Gina Rinehart, reported in an article on the ABC news website. It says:

"Townsville made important history years ago as a navy base at Townsville, helping defend our country in World War II," she said.

"That important culture, a very important culture, could flourish again if we also offered free land, be that near Prairie [west of Townsville] if suitable or elsewhere near Townsville, for the Israelis.

"And encourage the Israelis to develop and build their advanced war drones and/or other advances in defence and improve upon their Israeli-style domes.

"Manufacture them here to sell to our country to help make our people and critical infrastructure safe."

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 15

I love waking up and checking the news to see Australia on the world stage 🙃

A screenshot of the Guardian’s World Cup live blog. The headline says ‘Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture’. The article reads:

‘Fifa have been urged to remove a video review official who appeared to make a white supremacy hand gesture during Germany’s 7-1 win over Curaçao.

‘The governing body’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup called for Shaun Evans from Australia to be removed from the tournament.

‘The gesture was also spotted by several fans who posted about it on social media.

‘“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network said.

‘Fifa are yet to comment on the situation.’

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 15

At a City of Melbourne event about making the Birrarung/Yarra swimmable which is obviously a keen interest of mine and I’m looking forward to the discussion but shouldn’t the swans in this promo image be black?

A cartoon-style picture of white swans swimming on an urban river

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 8

Also, not to brag but I went back to the same spot and saw TWO last night (only got good photos of one though)

A black-and-white night vision photo of a tiny gliding possum in the foliage of a banksia. The animal is dark above and pale below with round ears and a conspicuously fringed, feather-like tail.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· Jun 6

My “this aged care facility welcomes all ethnic groups” sign is raising a lot of questions already answered by the sign

An electronic sign outside San Carlo Home for the Aged which says “SAM CARLO WELCOMES ALL ETHNIC GROUPS”

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 31

Didn’t get to see the blue micromoon tonight but I did get breathtaking views of the Melbourne Cloud

An overcast night sky with silhouetted eucalypts.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 28

Regret to announce that his website design is as grating as his singing:

A screenshot of the website of singer Robbie Mortimer. It’s a massive block of white text on a photo background and the photo is predominantly pale blue, such that the text is unnecessarily difficult to read.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 28

Zero Tackle dot com with a beautiful Freudian slip in its State of Origin player ratings. Any Raiders fan could have told you that Ethan Strange is the best kind of footy maniac:

A State of Origin player rating from the rugby league website Zero Tackle for Ethan Strange. It says “What a debut, Strange demented himself in Origin folklore with an outstanding call-up following an injury to Mitchell Moses.”

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 27

James McGrath in being-a-massive-piece-of-shit shocker

A screenshot from the Guardian Australia’s politics live blog. It reads:

‘Labor has rejected claims from Liberal senator James McGrath that government MP Ali France has a case to answer about her enrolment details, saying she is living away from her registered address while her home is being rebuilt to better suit her disability needs.

McGrath, a LNP senator from Queensland, said he had raised concerns with the Australian Electoral Commission that France’s current registered enrolment address was a vacant block of land. France is the member for Dickson, having unseated Peter Dutton at the 2025 election.

In a statement, France said she has lived at that address for five years, and that the block is currently vacant because her house was demolished in February “to build a new home that is more suited to my needs as a disabled woman”.

It should be completed by the end of the year and my son and I are very much looking forward to moving back when construction is complete. I have lived at the address for five years and will continue to live at the address into future.
The AEC’s website states: “If you are absent from your enrolled address for a period of time but have an intention to return to that address to live, you do not need to update your enrolment. This includes if you intend to rebuild your house in the event of a disaster.”

Guardian Australia has been told France lived at the property until its demolition in February.

McGrath claimed in a statement: “A Labor MP being enrolled at a vacant block of land is as dodgy as they come.”

He requested the AEC investigate the issue “with the upmost seriousness and in a timely manner.”’

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 26

Forgot to mention, I saw a bogong moth on Sunday! Because bogongs are so iconic people often thing that they’re huge (maybe getting them mixed up with rain moths or emperor gum moths) but in fact they’re pretty small, a few centimetres long at most

A bogong moth in leaf litter. It’s a brown moth with a distinctive wing pattern: a round pale spot above a kidney-shaped spot of the same colour, with a black stripe running between them.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 25

It’s uncanny

Rugby League blowhard Phil Gould bloviating about State of Origin (a middle-aged white man in a dark suit standing on a sporting pitch with a microphone in his hand, talking direct to camera)

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 24

The banksias are flowering in Kinglake National Park north of Melbourne and I’ve been looking for feathertailed gliders. It’s been largely fruitless until tonight when I hit the jackpot with this individual. They’re the world’s smallest gliding mammal with an average weight of only TWELVE GRAMS 🥺

A tiny greyish-brown mammal huddled in the leaves of a banksia bush. It has big round ears, a short conical snout and a little pink nose. The glider’s broad, flattened tail can just be seen curled around a twig.

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 20

Ten years ago today I went to the Lost Dogs Home determined to get a cat (aka a Very Lost Dog) and I came home with this little gremlin. I’ll admit there was some buyers remorse in the early, knocking-things-off-shelves-at-4am-because-she-was-hungry years, but now I wouldn’t trade her for anything

An approximately six-month-old ticked tabby/tortoiseshell cat sitting on a polished wooden floor next to a bowl full of cat food.

The same cat as in the previous photo but now ten years older, standing on a white table and eating food from the same bowl.

A white man with thinning hair and a dark brown beard smiling and holding the same cat as in the previous photos. The cat does not look like she particularly wants to be held (she wanted to be fed instead).

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 19

If, as a Westerner, I decry Israel more than Syria or Yemen, it’s because every day my elected leaders and the loudest voices in my nation’s media insist to me that Israel is our ally, the last bastion of our Western values, and that I must celebrate its violence www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...

Four paragraphs from an interview with Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes talking about antisemitism. In the fourth, highlighted paragraph he says, of people who criticise Israel: ‘“Well, where were they when Bashar al-Assad killed at least 600,000 people in Syria? Where were these people with their beautiful ideas when children [were] in direct need of UN feeding, by the million, in Yemen? The list goes on and on and on. So where were these beautifully moral people then?”’

Harry Saddler@harrysaddler· May 16

Back on my bullshit (bought some LPs today)