Turbulent mixing layer flow in a vertical water channel was experimentally investigated by particle image velocimetry (PIV). The mixing layer is produced by a specially designed insert plate placed in the channel with a low- and high-speed side velocity ratio of 0.25. The Reynolds number based on the velocity difference of two streams and the spanwise vorticity thickness at the place where the mixing layer start merging ranges from 2184 to 14 672. The results show that there are large coherent vortex structures near the centreline of the mixing layer. Both instantaneous kinetic energy and spanwise vorticity always concentrate at the location where the coherent structures connect or meet each other. The normalised dimensionless Reynolds stresses and average spanwise vorticity show self-similar, respectively, under different Reynolds numbers at the same cross-section in the down streamwise direction. Every component of Reynolds stresses increases but the vorticity decreases with the downstream distance. For all Reynolds number, the peak values of mean vorticity in the streamwise direction appear the same decay speed. The splitter plane wake causes a negative peak of the mean vorticity where the mixing layer merges. The negative peak values of vorticity increase with the Reynolds number. The dimensionless negative peak values decrease exponentially with Reynolds number and reach a constant when the Reynolds number is large enough.