Skip to content
Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Mort's Riverwatch

An occasional look at the ebb and flow of the Thames

  • Home
  • About Mort Smith
  • Recent developments
  • Events
  • History
  • Nature
  • Rules and regs
  • Local people
  • Terra Nova

Recent developments

Nature Recent developments

The gloves are coming off

06/03/200827/02/2013Mort SmithComment(0)

I remember fondly summer holidays with my children at Southwold on the Suffolk coast when one of the regular highlights was taking part in the annual crabbing contest. We regularly used to lift out hundreds of crabs of various sizes by dangling old fishheads and bits of bacon rind into the water.

Recent developments

Generations join in Thames ‘rescue’

28/02/200827/02/2013Mort SmithComment(0)

Teamwork helps distraught boy fish his homemade skateboard from the river

Recent developments Terra Nova

I’m proud to be a member of the boat-owning underclass

11/02/200821/12/2025Mort SmithComment(0)

Mort Smith’s new weekly column looks at the lighter side of life on the River Thames.

Posts pagination

Previous 1 … 9 10

Archives

Get in touch

To contact Mort, email him at mortsmith32@gmail.com or call him on 01787 226974. He’s always pleased to hear from old friends who provided such a wealth of information and great stories for Riverwatch.

These columns appeared in the Surrey Herald.

Tags

Association of Dunkirk Little Ships Beaulieu boat jumble birds boats book review Canal and River Trust crab Desborough Island Desborough Sailing Club Doug Myers Dunkirk D’Oyly Carte Island Environment Agency fish fishing Floods historic boats Jenny Beagle lock keepers London International Boat Show paintings Project Kraken Queen Mary Sailing Club Richmond Venturer River Thames Boat Project river users groups rowing Royal Yachting Association safety sailing Second World War Shepperton Shepperton Marina Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society Surrey Police swimming Terra Nova Thames21 Thames islands Walton Bridge Walton Yacht Company Weather Weybridge Ladies Rowing Club Weybridge Sailing Club wildlife
Copyright © 2008-2025 Mort Smith. All rights reserved. | Editorial by MysteryThemes.
  • Home
  • About Mort Smith
  • Recent developments
  • Events
  • History
  • Nature
  • Rules and regs
  • Local people
  • Terra Nova

Notice: ob_end_flush(): Failed to send buffer of zlib output compression (0) in /home/public/wp-includes/functions.php on line 5481