Coronavirus seems all-consuming at the moment, now that we are all being told to stay at home to save lives, and may face up to six months of social distancing.

I think we all occasionally need a little relief from the virus and the consequent lockdown, so here are some pictures from less than three weeks ago—time that now seems like another era.

Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) are sea birds that look a bit like gulls, although, biologically, they are a different family. Fulmars are easily distinguished from gulls by their shallow stiff wing beats, and the thin section of their aerofoil-like wings. Their bills are likened to tubenoses. Their underparts are white, but when they bank in a glide, they show intricately patterned grey upper-parts. They rarely come to shore except in the breeding season.

They are members of the Procellariiformes, an order of birds that includes the albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters. Procellariiformes are almost exclusively pelagic, feeding in the open sea, so not often seen among the sea birds commonly found on our shores.

However, the breeding season is upon us, so fulmars are becoming more visible. The cliffs of Thanet are known for fulmars, although in much smaller numbers than in some of the great colonies found in Scotland and the Northern Isles. As I've only ever photographed fulmars once before (on Skomer last year), I took myself off to Thanet earlier this month to see if I could find them.

Walking along some cliff tops, all of a sudden, I was confronted by the sight of a handful of stiff-winged, white birds periodically rising elegantly above the cliffs in front of me before diving away: I'd found my quarry.

I spent a few moments photographing them as they appeared above the cliff. But, no sooner had I started to get some pictures, than they simply disappeared. Wanting to know more about where they'd gone, I found some steps down to the base of the cliff, where there was a footpath.

It took some time for me to realise what was happening, but it turned out that the birds were going on small and large circuits. The small circuits took them past the cliffs and out into the bay, and round again; maybe a minute in all. On the long circuits, they headed out to sea (to feed?) for anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes before returning.

Each time they reappeared I was able to get some pictures with either the sky or the cliffs in the background, or, occasionally, the sea as they swept in low in front of the cliffs.

Despite the busyness of the footpath below the cliffs, the fulmars seemed completely unperturbed by the human traffic: mums with babies in buggies, joggers, and all sorts of passers-by used the path, and fully reciprocated the lack of interest shown by the birds. To my surprise and delight, one pair had found themselves a spot to rest just below the clifftop. I don't know if they were planning to nest there, but that was the impression they gave. And they did not seem to care, either, about one of the passers-by who stopped to eat his sandwich just below them.

All in all, I had a delightful couple of hours watching and photographing them either from the cliff top or the path beneath, even if much of it was spent waiting for them to reappear. The wind was strong and cold, so once the sun started to dip, and the wind felt colder-still, I headed off.

I suppose one potential silver lining of the current lockdown is that the fulmars may be able to nest with less human interference, although, I have to say, they didn't seem to care one way or the other.

FWIW, all the pictures here were taken with the Nikon D500 and Nikkor AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF ED VR lens, with group area AF for flight shots or single-point AF for the perched shots, and back button focus. As a follow up to my earlier comments on the 500PF lens, with the D500, it picks up focus very quickly and tracks accurately. An outstanding combination for hand-held photography of birds in flight.