Bevaix

History

Bevaix is first mentioned in 998 as in villa Bevacensi. In 1139 it was mentioned as Betuaci. The village of Bevaix is sited in front of a small plateau, near Lake Neuchâtel, on a location showing both Bronze Age and Neolithic settlement and a priory dating to 998. The discovery nearby of several dugout canoes and boats illuminated techniques of shipbuilding in Gallo-Roman times. The village was predominantly agricultural until the building of a railway station in 1860, and the drainage of the surrounding wetlands around 1900, when the area became increasingly residential. Local industry focuses on microtechnology.

Geography

Bevaix has an area, , of . Of this area, or 34.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 47.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 18.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.7% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 10.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.3% of the area. Out of the forested land, 45.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.7% is used for growing crops and 8.2% is pastures, while 5.8% is used for orchards or vine crops and 1.4% is used for alpine pastures.

Most-observed species

• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  9,829
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  6,644
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  6,392
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  5,034
• European hare

  Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 · Mammalia
  4,994
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,179
• Small Heath

  Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  4,147
• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  3,630

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 4.1 — 2021-12-24
  2 km WSW of Blamont, France
• M 3.4 — 2020-06-23
  11 km ESE of Samoëns, France
• M 4.1 — 2017-07-01
  7 km E of Châtel-Saint-Denis, Switzerland