Eschert

History

Eschert is first mentioned in 1179 as Escert. For much of its history, the village was owned by Moutier-Grandval Abbey. In 1531 the parish church of Grandval along with the entire parish, including Eschert, converted to the new faith of the Protestant Reformation. In 1733 a fire destroyed most of the buildings in the village. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Eschert became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later in 1800, it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Eschert was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. The municipality is not on any of the major roads or railroads in the Grand Val and so remained isolated, rural and generally agrarian into the 20th century. Today an increasing number of commuters live in Eschert and work in factories in the surrounding municipalities.

Geography

Eschert has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 40.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 55.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 2.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. Out of the forested land, 49.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.8% is used for growing crops and 11.9% is pastures and 19.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Most-observed species

• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  13,367
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  9,666
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  9,143
• Yellow-legged hornet

  Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836 · Insecta
  4,400
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  4,012
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  3,777
• Small Heath

  Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  3,418
• European badger

  Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  3,173

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• 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 3.1 — 2018-05-04
  2 km W of Schliengen, Germany