Last year August we took in two little cats from the animal shelter that have been terrorizing the garden since this spring. Everything that moves is hunted and caught. Mice, frogs, birds and unfortunately also the insects, and those get usually eaten.
At the start of the season mostly the bees nesting in the bee hotel were the focus of their attention, but as more butterflies and dragon flies awoke their gaze shifted to those. Using acrobatic manoeuvrers they pluck them right out the sky. Even a Norfolk hawker about which I was pretty sure it was a bridge too far for them got caught this way, albeit only after a few days and failed attempts, but fortunately I was able to intervene. Which was the case as well for this Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) [1]. The wings of the butterfly are pretty damaged, but fortunately it was still capable of flying and it took of after a break to recuperate.
I’m not sure if this specimen was a passing by or it was one of the caterpillars from last year.

Literature
1 Nederlands Soortenregister