Vet Adam Sternberg with a funnel web. This vet clinic in Brookvale is one of the drop off points for the public who want to help the antivenom projects. Picture: Annika Enderborg Source: News Limited

The northern beaches is a hotspot for funnel web spiders, say experts.

It follows an incident on Tuesday where a six-year-old girl became seriously ill after she was bitten on the finger by a male funnel web.

Dozens of people have contacted the Manly Daily to say they have seen funnel webs in and around their homes recently.

Girl, 6, rushed to hospital after deadly bite from rare funnel web spider in her northern beaches home

Mike Gray, a retired spider specialist from the Australian Museum, said the whole of the North Shore was perfect funnel web territory.

They like any forested region, especially where there is also rocky, sloping ground, he said.

They like to make burrows under rocks, rotting logs and in tree roots, where the ground tends to stay moist.

The funnel web spider which bit the little girl,6, in her northern beaches home this week. Source: Supplied

He said the male funnel webs wander in summer and autumn and can often find themselves, accidentally in peoples homes.

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Funnel webs stake out beaches