The view from the Welsh mountains: On the rise and proliferation of small basin studies in the UK and their legacy

The 1960s and 1970s saw a blossoming of interest in hydrological processes and the establishment of a range of small catchment research programmes in the UK. Most of these studies were funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), through university grants and through its Institute of Hydrology. The university projects were mostly intentionally short-term. The Institute has suffered from funding issues and is now merged with other NERC units. It is therefore appropriate to assess what has been learnt from this research; whether the knowledge gained is of practical value to hydrology, to other disciplines or to society, or is purely academic. The paper discusses these issues with reference to a selection of small research catchments in the UK operating between the 1960s and the present day. It analyses the current situation and discusses possible ways forward for funding and research.