Who are you calling a leggy bird? Mummy avocet looks like she's got 10 legs

This adorable fluffy bird appears to have ten legs instead of two.

The ball-shaped Pied avocet looks like she has grown an extra eight limbs as she stands on mud flats.

But the wading bird actually has four of her little chicks hiding in her fur - with only their legs visible.

She is lovingly sheltering her young ones to keep them warm and protect them from the threat of predators.

The mum and her chicks forage for food in the area, moving their special upturned beaks from side-to-side in the shallow water to try to catch crustaceans and insects.

In some of the photographs one of the fluffy grey chicks is visible, having broken away from the cluster to look for food.

Artist and photographer Willem de Wolf, 61, captured these incredible images near the village of Wommels in the north of the Netherlands.

Willem, from Espel, in Flevoland, said: 'There is a farmer who lives near the village of Wommels who has a great heart for birds.

'Many birds breed there on his property - there were more than 170 nests.