The part of the circuit consisting of the capacitor C, transistor, zener diode and the resistors form a constant current source to charge the capacitor. Initially assume the capacitor is fully discharged. The voltage across it is zero and hence the internal comparators inside the 555 connected to pin 2 causes the 555's output to go high and the internal transistor of 555 shorting the capacitor C to ground opens and the capacitor starts charging to the supply voltage. As it charges, when its voltage increases above 2/3rd the supply voltage, the 555's output goes low, and shorts the C to ground, thus discharging it. Again the 555's output goes high when the voltage across C decreases below 1/3rd supply. Hence the capacitor charges and discharges between 2/3rd and 1/3rd supply.
The frequency of the circuit is given by:
f = (Vcc-2.7)/(R*C*Vpp)
where:
Vcc= Supply voltage.
Vpp= Peak to peak voltage of the output required.