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1 Runoff production in blanket peat catchments of the northern Pennine hills, UK was measured through monitoring and experimentation at the plot, hillslope and catchment scale. Water flow from soil pipes was measured in one of the study catchments and overland flow, throughflow and water table were measured in runoff plots; rainfall simulation and tension-infiltrometry provided information on infiltration characteristics of the peat. 2 Saturation-excess overland flow was found to dominate the flashy flow regime; acrotelm stormflow, subsurface pipeflow and macropore flow were also found to be important components of the ecohydrological system. 3 Surface cover, topography and preferential flowpaths were found to be important factors in controlling infiltration and runoff production. 4 Streamflow generation processes that are consistent with the acrotelm-catotelm model are shown to occur in blanket peat with and …