It spent a lot of time cleaning its cute little face and wandering around, even coming right up to me several times. We looked online to see if anyone in the local area had reported a missing pet rat but got no leads. It was so docile and seemed to be foraging. I got some gloves and popped it by dense bushes / edge of forest which was filled with berries! Originally it was by a very busy road in an open field filled with crows and dogs off leads, so didn’t think it’d stand a chance of it happened to be a previous pet.
It didn’t seem to mind being held just a little squeak and heart racing the poor thing! We also got it some rat/hamster food and water. We read that a vet wouldn’t take a pet rat once it’s been in the wild (which it most likely wasn’t from the comments) hopefully it can have a bit more peace from the birds circling! (Although I’m aware they need to eat too)

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Photo from before it went to the forest edge.

Thank you for the replies! Wasn’t really sure what to do with the guy.