It comes fifty years after the publication of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's acclaimed book on pollution of wildlife that helped the growth of the environmental movement worldwide and led to a ban of some pesticides in Britain.
The new book explains the negative impact of pesticides, population growth, farming and other factors on the plants and species that prop up Britain's ecosystems.
Attenborough writes: "We tend to focus on the bigger animals and ignore the smaller ones – but small creatures like these are the basis of our entire ecosystems and they are disappearing faster than ever.
"That loss is transforming our wildlife and countryside."
The 600-page book, edited by Norman Maclean, emeritus professor of genetics at Southampton University, lays bare the grim reversal in the populations of many butterflies, bees, flies and snails, and the virtual extinction of some species of moth.
Prof Maclean argues that "the evidence is that we could be in the middle of the next great extinction of wildlife, both globally and in Britain."
The book details how three quarters of British butterfly species are in decline, thanks in part to the destruction of the plants caterpillars feed on, treated by farmers as weeds.
Moth numbers were down by a third from 1968 to 2002 for the same reasons, with at least 20 species having seen populations decline by more than 90 per cent.
Rivers in Britain have also suffered, with caddis flies, mayflies and stoneflies said to have badly suffered from the increased use of pesticides on sheep and cattle, which can wash off and poison the water if the animals enter a river or stream.
The species are a key food source for birds, fish and other predators.
Starling and swallow populations are down by two thirds since the mid-1970s, while it is feared that hedgehogs could be extinct by 2025.
The Telegraph: 25-4-10. Photo PA
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